The recent recommendation by the Performance-Based Revenue Model Task Force of the state Board of Regents to allocate legislative funding largely on the basis of undergraduate Iowa residents enrolled would prove devastating to the University of Iowa. If fully implemented, the recommended revenue model would slash our annual legislative-general-fund appropriation by nearly $60 million, with those funds being reallocated to the other two schools. Our state appropriation has been shrinking as a part of the university’s overall budget for education and other core functions for decades; nevertheless, it represents the financial foundation on which all university functions rest.

Has the University of Iowa been a responsible steward of the support we have received from Iowa’s citizens? The facts speak for themselves. We are the only public university in Iowa ranked in the top 30 nationally. We have numerous highly ranked programs, including writing, speech pathology and audiology, nursing, medicine, law, psychology, English, political science, sociology, art, civil and environmental engineering, and many others. We are the sixth best college in the nation for military veterans. We offer an unsurpassed undergraduate experience, including more than 200 majors, minors, and certificate programs, and more than 40 percent of our undergraduates are involved in research with faculty mentors. Seventy-nine percent of dentists, 50 percent of physicians, and 48 percent of pharmacists in Iowa are UI graduates. We have teachers and administrators in 100 percent of Iowa’s school districts. From outside the state, our faculty and staff attract more than $400 million a year in research funding; although this funding cannot legally be used to support undergraduate teaching, it does have an enormous economic impact on the state. Our overall statewide economic impact amounts to $6 billion a year, yielding about $16 in revenue for every $1 of state funding.

Beyond undergraduate education, the UI has the additional core mission to provide high-level graduate and professional education. Our graduate and professional programs are world-class and often are available in the regents’ universities only on our campus. The graduates of these programs — doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, engineers, teachers, social workers, and others — provide vital services to Iowans. These programs are much more resource-intensive than undergraduate teaching; yet, they greatly increase the value of every UI undergraduate degree, by establishing our strong national and international reputation, one that stands above peer institutions in the region.

The recommended funding model of the regents undermines the comprehensive mission of the UI, and it does a grave disservice to the citizens of Iowa. In addition, it pits the three regents’ universities against one another in a needless financial contest. Each school has its own unique identity and mission. Why not continue to respect and celebrate those differences?  And why not tailor funding to the strengths of these three fine universities instead of mandating a “one size fits all” model?

Jonathan Carlson